Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/487054
maltatoday, Sunday, 29 March 2015 News 7 legislation enacted by the Labour government." Labour, PN trade accusations Chris Said's confirmation that he had met and corresponded with the whistleblower sparked a series of ac- cusations between the Labour and Nationalist parties. During yesterday's press confer- ence, the PN secretary general con- firmed meeting the whistleblower and corresponded with him when the latter approached him after the general election. Said, who also revealed that the whistleblower had also approached Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, said the police should investigate the case beyond March 2013 as well. He said the whistleblower had re- ferred him to works carried out at Gharb. After contacting mayor Dav- id Apap, Said said it resulted that the works were funded by the Ministry for Gozo and any pending payments should be issued by the ministry. "There wasn't much I could do when the mayor said the works were being paid for by the ministry. I spoke to the whistleblower and sug- gested that he seeks legal advice to recover his money," Said added. He also confirmed that the same whistleblower had met the Opposi- tion leader a few days after Busuttil was elected leader. "Every abuse is wrong and should be investigated and steps taken as a result of the investigation. The PN leader has been clear that he will be ready to take the necessary steps as soon as there is an outcome to the investigation," Said said on the Debono case. Said lambasted the government for what he described as the "political advantage" of the situation. "The government is not fighting abuse but it is making use of these allegations to gain political points because we are in the middle of the local councils election," he said, add- ing that it was a government trait to hit out at the Opposition whenever the government was with its back to the wall. His comments prompted Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to declare that the government had nothing to fear and the police were free to in- vestigate as they deemed fit. "Chris Said and Simon Busuttil had been approached by the whistle- blower at least a year ago and over but they didn't take any action. Why?" Muscat hit back in Nadur. "If you knew why didn't you report it? Why didn't you go to the authorities after someone told you that work was carried out in private places in return for votes?" The government also issued a state- ment, calling on the opposition to pass on any information it may have: "It has now emerged that the PN leader and the secretary general had received information of the abuse that went on under the previous ad- ministration. It was their choice not to report that information when they met the whistleblower around two years ago." It reiterated its appeal for anyone with any information to come for- ward and avail themselves of the Whistleblowers Act. The PN replied by stating that Muscat was "no longer a journal- ist, but a Prime Minister, and his interests should lie in seeing justice served". "According to the government, the contractor had been acting as a whistleblower for over a year, which means that Muscat hadn't truly first heard about the case from the media as he had claimed," the PN said. In a second statement accusing Muscat of acting as judge and pros- ecutor, the PN said the Prime Minis- ter should not interfere in the ongo- ing investigation. The PN said Muscat had yet to ex- plain when Refalo had become aware of the case and what action did Mus- cat take when Refalo approached him with the case. It went on to question whether Muscat would now become "Anton Refalo's defence lawyer" as well. sbalzan @mediatoday.com.mt MiriaM Dalli THE Gozo Ministry last year sup- plied workers from the civil service to build a platform outside a restau- rant whose owner paid for the con- struction material for the platform, which gave him additional seating. Il Gambero Ristorante owner Joseph Cassar told MaltaToday that the works were carried out at the same time that the Gozo Ministry was carrying out embellishment works at the Marsalforn prom- enade. No solid explanation was forth- coming as to why Cassar paid for the construction material, limiting him- self to a simple because he "wanted to". "You know how it is… things sometimes move slowly when deal- ing with the government," he said, adding that the area was now "more accessible to persons with disabil- ity". One of Il Gambero's waiters and part-time manager is Keith Vella Muskat, a customer care official in the Construction and Maintenance Unit at the Gozo Ministry's Depart- ment for Projects and Development. Denying that he was in any way in- volved in the works carried out, Vel- la Muskat said he was just another part-time worker at the restaurant. He said that the works "to level the ground" were carried out on land owned by the Lands Department. Thanks to the new platform and embellishment works, Il Gambero now enjoys a bigger area where to place tables and chairs. In fact, in February 2014, the restaurant had filed an application with the Marsal- forn administrative committee, re- questing encroachment of public land in Triq il-Port for the placing of tables and chairs. The committee's original decision was to turn down the request, saying it was against the placing of tables in public passages. The decision was however overturned the following month – in April 2014 – when the committee revised its decision and issued a "no objection" to the placing of tables in the public passageway. Stopping short of mentioning any names but referring to "a restaurant", PN secretary general and Gozitan MP Chris Said on Saturday alleged that public resources were being used for private works. Pressed by MaltaToday, Said would not name the restaurant. It however transpires that Il Gam- bero Ristorante's name was being bandied out about in Gozo. go beyond PN administration' Gozo Ministry supplied workers for restaurant's platform Projects Malta Limited, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Malta, hereby calls for the submission of proposals leading to the award by the Government of a services concession for the management and operation of healthcare and ancillary services from the sites at St. Luke's Hospital, Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital and Gozo General Hospital through the grant, for a specified term, of the right to exploit such services. Interested parties are invited to obtain a copy of the Request for Proposals (RFP) document either by collecting it from the offices of Projects Malta Limited at The Clock Tower, Level 1, Tign� Point, Sliema, Malta or by a request to Projects Malta Limited on admin.projectsmalta@gov.mt. The RFP document will be provided against the payment of a non-refundable fee of five thousand euro (€5,000). Sealed bids complete with all required documents are to be submitted up to noon (Central European Time) on Tuesday, 19 th May 2015. Submissions are to be delivered by hand to Projects Malta Limited on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m (Central European Time) at the address below: Projects Malta Ltd. The Clock Tower, Level 1, Tign� Point, Sliema, Malta Request for Proposals Services Concession for the redevelopment, maintenance, management, and operation of the sites at St. Luke's Hospital, Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital and Gozo General Hospital REF: PML /04/2015 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Projects Malta 20 x 3.pdf 1 Friday/March27/2015 9:5912AM Joseph Muscat: Nothing to fear